


will you hold the past tightly, or let it slip away?

by dappledleaves



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Betrayal, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Hope, New L'manburg, No Dialogue, Pogtopia, Spoilers, difference of opinions, manburg, spoilers for 16/11/20 streams, the aftermath of a war, villain!wilbur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappledleaves/pseuds/dappledleaves
Summary: Wilbur knows the truth. This story can be nothing but a tragedy - and he is the miserable star.(His L’manburg is gone. He feels no guilt in destroying its remains.)
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Toby Smith | Tubbo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	will you hold the past tightly, or let it slip away?

**Author's Note:**

> so. tonights stream sure was something, huh. i wrote this immediately afterwards, i hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> please remember to respect the content creators!

Wilbur sits alone in Pogtopia. He has no weapons, no armour, but he isn’t worried. He doubts anyone will ever need to come back here, now. In fact, he’s not sure he even has to call this place Pogtopia anymore. It’s done it’s job - the rebellion is disbanded. Finished. Everything is finished. This is no hideout anymore: it’s merely a ravine, with an echo of a purpose. 

Wilbur is aware that this ravine will never be bustling with life ever again. He knows, he accepts, and he reminisces. He is all that is left of his L’manburg. He knows this, now. The button has been pressed, and nobody can have the memories but him. He holds them in his chest, and he doesn’t intend to let them go, no matter how much they weigh him down. 

Nobody can keep it alive but him. Nobody else has the right. L’manburg has flourished under his rule - it has died under his rebellion - and Wilbur knows that this is the only way any of it could have ended. No amount of Tommy’s speeches (so full of hope that burns his heart and hurts his head) could have changed the outcome. No amount of gear provided by Techno. No changes of heart from Eret. _Nothing._

Wilbur allows himself to think of this all as fate, a story woven in the stars. Tommy would have it be an epic - and he would take after the greek heroes, facing hardship that only serves to make him stronger, bringing him closer to victory. 

But Wilbur knows the truth. This story can be nothing but a tragedy - and he is the miserable star. Oh how the audiences would pity him, so lost without his nation, so willing to rescue it from the clutches of evil. They would watch with bated breath as Schlatt announces the festival, they would whisper amongst themselves when the doubt makes itself known in Wilbur’s mind. 

They would know, just as he did, that the moment he asked Tommy if they should become the villains, that there was no going back. If he hadn’t pressed the button, in a way, he would be letting himself down, because he wouldn't be embracing his capabilities as the great villain that he knows he can be - that nobody else can ever do as well as he can.

Schlatt may have been an enemy to many people, but he was never willing to make the hard decisions. Wilbur has no such trouble with that. He knew L’manburg was never coming back - and so the shadow of a nation that remained in its place had to go. Of that he was certain, and he doesn’t regret it now. Why should he? 

The way he sees it (cold and alone in a useless ravine), he is the winner here. He and Techno are the only winners. Wilbur had known exactly what he was doing when he named Tubbo president, without an election of any kind. He knew there would be chaos to come, and Techno did not disappoint. Everyone else has lost in some way, whether they know it or not. Wilbur couldn't care what they all decide to to next. Nobody is going to find him here; they probably think he's long gone.

After the deafening sounds of tnt, this moment of victory is oddly quiet. There is the faint dripping of water, gentle creaks from the lanterns' chains, and the pounding of his heart.

 _Tubbo, you are president of a crater,_ he thinks. _Enjoy._

Quackity is already making plans. He knows that if he stops, if he gives himself time to think about any of this, then he'll get lost in the flaming trees. Sink into the fresh craters. He has to stay focused. He has to. People are depending on him now. He has a new position, in a new cabinet, and he's determined that this time: thing's will be better. This time he can truly do some good.

He knows that Wilbur believed there was no getting his L'manburg back. but honestly - Quackity thinks that Wilbur's L'manburg disappeared the moment Dream declared war. When traitorous roots began to grow within their walls. When peace was cast aside for weapons and conflict. 

Wilbur thinks he lost L'manburg when Schlatt took it from him, but that isn't true. Not from where Quackity is standing. He thinks that Wilbur's L'manburg has been gone for a very, very long time, and it took Schlatt winning the election for him to realise it. He wonders if that's what all this was - all this destruction, just from a press of a button. He wonders if this was Wilbur trying to deny the truth, like he wanted L'manburg to end on his terms and nobody else's. 

This all reminds Quackity of a poem he read once, about a bird refusing to leave the nest. It stays, and it stays, and it doesn't even notice that the nest is breaking under it's feet. That the branches have withered and died, and are falling away slowly, one by one. 

Tubbo finds him, then. Perhaps the one good thing to come of all this, is Tubbo as their president. His eyes are shining, and with all the flames around them Quackity can't tell if its because he's excited, or if his eyes are filled with tears.

Quackity encourages his plans, and Tubbo encourages his. He talks of rebuilding, but Quackity think's that it's time for a change. Time for fresh air; time for them to be able to breathe freely again.

Time for something new. New L'manburg. A place free from the chains of it's past, a place on stilts so it can rise above all the damage and make something new.

Quackity smiles. He has his friends at his side. He has hope.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave me comments letting me know your thoughts, i love them dearly and they make me thrive!
> 
> i just found their different opinions today in the streams so fascinating. wilbur was focusing on the fact that l'manburg was gone - so it was an ending. whereas quackity chose to focus on the fact that this means there can be a new beginning, too. blocky minecraft lore has me feeling emotional tonight.
> 
> i wish you all a lovely day/night, and hope you stay safe! :)


End file.
